Acoustic-gravity Waves in the Earth's Atmosphere. I - the General Nature of Acoustic-gravity Waves. II - Acoustic- Gravity Wave Ducting in the Atmosphere by Vertical Temperature Structure

The motions observed i n t h e e a r t h l s atmosphere display spatial and temporal scales which range from those f o r sound waves t o those of t h e large-scale standing planetary waves.The same may be expected t o be t r u e of the atmospheres of other planets.been expended on t h e l a r g e s t scale circulations of other planets, but apparently much less a t t e n t i o n has been paid t o smaller s c a l e motions, such as acoustic and internal-gravity waves.To date, considerable e f f o r t has I n a preliminary step t o the study of these phenamena i n other atmospheres, where additional physical processes may be important, t h e present state of understanding of these waves i n t h e e a r t h ' s atmosphere was reviewed.Gravity Waves" t o the NATO Advanced Study I n s t i t u t e on "Atmospheric Motions and Turbulence Between 30-120 km" held at Lindau on Lake Constance, W. G e rmany, September 19-30, 1966 was the occasion f o r writing down these summaries of several aspects of t h e problem.An i n v i t a t i o n t o present two l e c t u r e s on "Atmospheric These reviews are thus a concise statement of our present understanding, end a starting point f o r considerations of similar phenomena i n the atmospheres of other planets.These t r e a t h e n t s are each self-contained, w i t h separate pagination and bibliographies.has been inserted between them t o f a c i l i t a t e opening t o t h e second paper.For the convenience of t h e reader, a colored sheet The preparation of these papers was primarily supported by NASA Grant NSG-173, for which I am very g r a t e f u l .rial shown i n t h e second paper r e s u l t e d froan studies supported by t h e National Science Foundation under Grant NSF GP 2371 and Office of Naval Research Contract Nonr 266(70j.